Crammond v Medway NHS Foundation Trust
[2015] EWHC 3540 (QB)·2015·Liability decided at trial
Mr Crammond went to A&E with four days of central chest pain radiating to both arms, but an A&E doctor streamed him to the same-day treatment centre on the strength of an essentially normal ECG without taking a history, and a GP there diagnosed gastritis. The judge held that a competent A&E doctor would have taken a short history and ordered tests that would have revealed his heart disease, avoiding the severe heart problems he suffered four years later.
An A&E doctor cannot rely on a normal ECG to send a chest-pain patient away without taking a proper history. Redirecting a patient to a lower-acuity service without assessing their risk factors can itself be negligent.